On a mission to diversify publishing by helping underrepresented voices write, edit, publish, and market your books. 📚 Tap into your creative spirit, let go of perfectionism, and build writing rituals that fit into your busy life. 🌈 Plus, get a behind-the-scenes look into my journey of publishing my bestselling novel and making six-figures as a storyteller.
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Can you really make money writing? Let's debunk some myths.
Published 24 days ago • 6 min read
School for Writers
with Lauren Marie Fleming
🧌 Two writing myths that need debunking
Starting a month of writing career advice with two common myths I see holding storytellers back from making money and thriving.
Hey Reader, I've got some exciting news:
My new book The Writer's Career Guide:How to Build a Sustainable Creative Life on Your Terms is officially out in the world!
🎉🎉🎉
Filled with my 20+ years experience as a writer, this bookwill help you build a sustainable career that honors both your creativity and your bank account.
To celebrate the release of The Writer's Career Guide, I'm going to be sharing some behind-the-scenes looks at my writing career and some advice from the book here in the School for Writers newsletter and on the LaurenMarieFleming.com blog all month long.
So keep an eye out!
Not interested in advice about building a writing career? Click here and I won't send you another email for a year about this topic.
Today's first tip comes from Chapter 4 of The Writer's Career Guide: two myths you need to debunk if you want to make money as a writer.
1. The starving, tortured artist myth.
Yes, you absolutely can make money as a writer, no matter what your high school guidance counselor or parents might have said. I know plenty of people who are creative beings making significant amounts of money in their careers.
There are megastar authors like Stephen King, James Patterson, Nora Roberts, Rebecca Yarros, and Sarah J. Maas that have made multiple millions of dollars from their books. Shonda Rhimes, Chuck Lorre, and Ryan Murphy are all reportedly worth over $100 million from television writing. Danielle Steel has a mansion I visit every time I’m in San Francisco to remind me that wealth as a writer is possible!
Even more importantly and impressively, there are also so many people – like me! and soon you too! – who make a more modest yet still abundant amount of money as a writer. I know plenty of people who make six figures as creatives and live wonderful lives where they’re able to pay their bills, have a little extra for retirement, trips, and emergency funds, and support causes they care about.
It absolutely IS possible to make a living as a writer. So, ditch that starving, tortured artist cliché and get ready to thrive.
As you have seen, I'm a big advocate for ditching that starving artist cliché and teaching business skills to writers!
2. The Great American Novelist myth.
The second myth I want to debunk is that you’re going to make a living as a writer by sitting alone, contemplating life, until you finally publish your one Great American Novel – or insert whatever country you live in – publishing it to much acclaim and then getting rich from the royalties.
The truth is traditional publishing just doesn’t pay that much.
How much does traditional publishing pay?
While every publishing deal is unique, I've got a general breakdown of typical earnings in traditional publishing based on industry standards and real-world examples from authors, agents, and publishers here on my blog (and in the book!).
Here's the takeaway amid the numbers: Traditional publishing is most likely not going to pay your bills, especially in the beginning.
Release the vision of you being the next Hemingway (who btw used cocaine to write as much as he did and had patrons keeping him afloat) and start thinking of your career outside of or adjacent to traditional publishing.
Instead of Defeating You, Let This Empower You
When I first ran the numbers of traditional publishing, I was disheartened. Not only were they impossibly low for the cost of living in California, where my whole family had been for five generations and where I called home, but the few traditionally published author success stories out there were almost exclusively straight, white, thin, normative people. I felt like this dream was impossible.
And to be honest, the dream of making it big just through traditional publishing might be impossible for most of us – especially if we come from a community or have an identity that traditional publishers have historically undervalued.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t make significant money as a writer!
I have a friend who self-publishes her fantasy novels and makes $10,000+ a month.
Multiple colleagues run highly successful ghostwriting, editing, and publishing consulting companies.
For the past four years, I’ve made six-figures running School for Writers®.
I have friends who get paid very well to write copy for advertisers and marketing agencies.
A friend of a friend makes bank coming in to add “pop” to the dialogue in Marvel movie scripts.
Many of my traditionally published fiction friends sell swag, bonus content, and even retreats centered around their books.
Instead of looking at the numbers of traditional publishing and giving up, let this free you to think about other ways you can make money as a writer – ways that are more empowering and more profitable than just traditional publishing.
To learn all about how to do that, grab a copy of my new book The Writer's Career Guide: How to Build a Sustainable Creative Life on Your Terms.
How does all of this sit with you Reader? Does it burst your myth bubble or is it information you already knew? Does it empower you or scare you? Or somewhere in the middle?
Reply and let me know!
And I'll see you soon with some help on harnessing your own unique creative rhythm.
Lauren
P.S. Got a friend who wants to make more money as a writer? Forward this email to them!
📘Helping diverse storytellers thrive.
School for Writers® is on a mission is to diversify publishing by helping you write, edit, publish and market your books.
We want to help you amplify your voice and thrive as a creative being. Check out our website to find some inspiration, grab a freebie, or enroll in a course.
Because the world needs your story now more than ever.™
The bestselling novel that's "warm, open-hearted and utterly inclusive." For everyone who’s ever felt too big, too weird, too queer—or just too much—comes a happily ever after for the rest of us.
A Choose Your Own Adventure-style interactive project where you get to decide what the characters say and do next. As the story unfolds, you'll get to vote on key decisions, shaping the shocking twists, exciting turns, and hilarious mishaps along the way.
The Writer’s Career Guide: How to Build a Sustainable Creative Life on Your Terms
Want to make a living as a writer without waiting for a bestseller or sacrificing your creativity?
Forget the myth of the starving artist. In The Writer's Career Guide, I show you how to create a thriving writing career on your own terms and reveal exactly how to build a sustainable career that honors both your creativity and your bank account.
Bawdy Love: 10 Steps to Profoundly Loving Your Body
Longing to love your body as it is right now, right here, no exceptions?
Part self-help workbook and part coloring book, Bawdy Love offers practical steps to help you release shame, break free from negative self-talk, and find peace in your own skin.
This empowering book takes you through actionable exercises and thought-provoking prompts, with fun coloring pages of animals and inspiring quotes, illustrated by acclaimed artist Liza Mana Burns.
Looking for other book recs? Check out our faves here.
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My goal is to have you open your inbox and be excited to see an email from me. There are three ways you'll hear from me in your inbox:
School for Writers® – a newsletter hosted on Kit that sends you education and inspiration to help you write, edit, publish, and market your books. (You are reading this one.)
Program emails, sent through our course platform Thinkific.
Unscripted – a project hosted on Substack exploring the messy and magical journey of living a boldly creative life, publishing queer stories, and building a writing career. This includes Letters from Lauren, a friendly writing advice podcast, and, Plot Twist: A Collaborative Novel.
By separating these offerings, we're able to support you in the ways you want without clogging your email.
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On a mission to diversify publishing by helping underrepresented voices write, edit, publish, and market your books. 📚 Tap into your creative spirit, let go of perfectionism, and build writing rituals that fit into your busy life. 🌈 Plus, get a behind-the-scenes look into my journey of publishing my bestselling novel and making six-figures as a storyteller.
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